From its earliest beginnings thousands of years ago, the course of man’s progress has been measured by his empires. Large, dynamic flows of power, people, and culture that merge, thrive, then break apart - the pieces only to merge again in a new configuration, the process to be repeated. Through pictures and words, "Empires: Their Rise and Fall" brings the reader face to face with many of the world’s greatest empires. Full-color photographs are combined with an absorbing narrative in a lively historical account of each empire and an examination of the period’s most enduring cultural achievements. This volume in the series focuses on The Spanish Hapsburgs, and The Hapsburgs in Central Europe. From the 15th-Century golden age of Spanish civilization, both in Europe and the New World, to the cosmopolitan cultural life of early 20th-Century Vienna, the House of Hapsburg ruled over six centuries and three continents. One of the last great classic empires, the Central European Hapsburgs successfully balanced the conflicting interests of a dozen different nationalities while helping to spawn a renaissance in music and the arts.